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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Bandcamp Picks: Unkured, Satyrasis, Sepiroth, Of Modern Architecture

DoC faves Unkured released their first full-length near the end of last year and it totally slipped past me. [A head's up would have been nice...] The pioneering spirit of Chuck Schuldiner looms large over Mutated Earth, which sounds like the album that should have come between Death's Human and Individual Thought Patterns (with some Unquestionable Presence thrown in for good measure). It definitely lives up to the band's promise to "perfectly balance" thrash, death, black, and progressive metal. Ones to watch, for sure. The album is available as a "Name Your Price" download.

Mutated Earth by UnKured
I'm assuming Death and Atheist probably bore a similar influence upon Michigan's Satyrasis, whose progressive death/thrash takes the listener to some interesting places. ...Of the Dead is filled with twists and turns, some of them baffling (like the old school hardcore detour on "Consequences"). As a whole, though, this is an impressive album from some obviously talented dudes. The album is available as a "Name Your Price" download; the band is also crowdsourcing a campaign to fund the vinyl edition, which could be yours for a $20 donation.

...Of The Dead by Satyrasis
Dutchmen Sepiroth may label themselves "old school", but their chops are head and shoulders above most revival bands. Uninvolved has some nice technical flourishes that drive home the point that the best death metal bands do more than just play fast. Prepare for brutality with nuance, as well as some historical/political subtext: As the band tells it, "This concept album thematically deals with the war in the former Yugoslavia that took place in the 1990's." I'm a sucker for death metal bands with more on their minds than gore and Satan. [€7 EUR]

Uninvolved by Sepiroth
I'm also a sucker for Canadian tech/death bands. Vancouver's Of Modern Architecture will probably send most death metal fans running for the hills by conjuring the spectre of Myspace metal, particularly Between The Buried And Me. But Wilderness is a fantastic piece of modern progressive metal that never gets boring or overly technical, and abetted by a sparkling production. The album is available as a "Name Your Price" download.